Technique of Kaizen: 5s Housekeeping

One of the most popular and widely used techniques of Kaizen management is 5s housekeeping. 5s is considered a foundation of lean concepts and also a fundamental principle of Kaizen, as it establishes the operational stability required for making and sustaining continuous improvements.

5S is a set of five Japanese words that start with a sound of “se” or “shi”, that are Seiri, Seiton, Seiso, Seiketsu and Shitsuke. Each of these Japanese words has its own meaning. Shari means sorting, Seiton means straighten or set in order, Seiso is means sweeping or cleaning, Seiketsu is means standardizing and lastly Shitsuke is means sustaining the discipline.

5S emphasizes the importance of working hygiene. It is based on Japanese housekeeping practice. 5S is necessary to ensure a clean and orderly working environment with a highly visible management, it helps focus employees to maintain a clean and efficient workplace and also helps them to be aware of their working environment and the state of the tools and machinery they use.

5S is not a one short practice but is a continuous process. The actual methodology of 5S is shown in figure 1. Firstly, it is required to complete from stage 1 till stage 5 and it does not end at stage 5, but it repeats the stage all over again infinitely.




Stage one is Seiri, it also translated as “Sorting”. Seiri means going through all the tools and materials in the plant work areas and only keeping the items that are essential and all others tools and items are stored or discarded.

Stage two is Seiso, it also translated as “Shine”, “Shining” or “Sweeping”. This is simply the need to keep the workplace clean and neat.

Stage three is Seiton, it also translated as “Straighten” or “Set in order”. Seiton is a process that focuses on efficiency. The goal is to arrange tools, equipment, and parts so that they encourage workflow.

Stage four is Seiketsu. It also translated as “Standardizing”. This simply means that work practices operate consistently and in a standardized manner.

Stage five or the last stage is Shitsuke, it also translated as “Sustain” which refers to maintaining high standards and reviewing those standards. It is a way to maintain focus on the this system of operation and not allowing people or processes to slip back into old habits.

by Tan Houng Chien 

Three characteristics of Kaizen: Continuous support, Incremental and Participative.

Kaizen can be summarized into three key characteristics that are continuous support, incremental and participative, without either one of these characteristics Kaizen will not be successful. Kaizen required continuous support because it is viewed as a never-ending journey towards quality and efficiency and it is a long-term orientation but one of the most common misunderstandings of Kaizen is when times goes by there is little room left for improvement (Singh & Singh, 2010; Netland & Aspelund, 2014). Companies in China even claimed to have completed the lean transformation years ago, and so have no need to engage in any kaizen activities (Zhao, 2007).

Secondly, Kaizen is also required incremental, incremental in improvement such organization or technological innovation (Bessant et al., 2001; Imai, 2012). And lastly, Kaizen to be said required participative because it required the involvement and intelligence of the all the workforce. Good kaizen activities need to involve everyone, the top management, managers, or workers (James et al., 2014). 

by Tan Houng Chien

Introduction of Kaizen

What is KAIZEN?

The word Kaizen can be separate into 2 parts: KAI and ZEN.  KAI (改) is defined as Improvement. Everything can be improved, any product, technology, work activity and production system, all can be improved as it mean. ZEN (善) is defined as Constantly improving, responds to each new opportunity, changing conditions, new information and can participate in it every worker (Kovacova,2012). Another definition of the Japanese meaning of Kaizen is "to take apart and put back together in a better way" (Mintion, 1998, p.19). It is a practice or philosophy that focuses on the continuous improvement of engineering, business management and manufacturing processes whilst reducing costs. For example, Kaizen is like Lean Manufacturing, during the improving standard tasks and activities in the production processes, it focuses on eliminating waste. 

by Tan Houng Chien

History of KAIZEN

Kaizen originated after the World War 2 (WWII) in Japan in 1950 when management and the government acknowledge that there was a problem in the current confrontation management system and a pending labour shortage. Japan sought to resolve this problem in cooperation with the workforce. The story of Kaizen miracle started in year 1930s where the founder of Toyota, Sakichi Toyoda which manufactured automatic looms at the time, liked to tell his co-workers: “Open the window; It is a big world out there”.

In the year 1950, Toyota implemented quality circles leading to the development of Toyota’s unique “Toyota Production System”. This Toyota system is a system of continuous improvement in quality, technology, processes, company culture, productivity, safety and leadership.

In 1986 Masaaki Imai only introduced to the Western world the Japanese term Kaizen and made it famous through his book, Kaizen: The Key to Japan's Competitive Success. Translated in fourteen languages, Kaizen became a fad the world over.

The 1993 edition of the New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary recognized the word Kaizen as an English word. The dictionary defines Kaizen as “continuous improvement of working practices, personal efficiency, etc., as a business philosophy.”

In year 1997, Imai introduced an evolved form of Kaizen in his book Gemba Kaizen: A Commonsense, Low-Cost Approach to Management, to reassert the importance of the shop floor in bringing about continual improvement in an organization. In essence, that translates into something of a corporate 'back to basics' philosophy. Gemba is where the product is actually manufactured, which could mean the assembly line in a manufacturing plant or the place where employees interact with customers in the service sector. It is "the place where the real work is done", as Imai likes to put it.

by Tan Houng Chien